Driver in San Ramon comes across crazy road rager on Bollinger Canyon Rd over perceived left lane dispute.
Northern Californian and Redditor /u/Green-Vehicle8199 shared head-shaking dashcam footage from earlier last week (Sept. 29, 2024) from San Ramon showing a driver resorting to brake checks, hand gestures, and profanity over a perceived left lane camping dispute.
Check out the dashcam footage below.
[OC] Met a Karen today. Tries to brake check me, gives me the finger, blocks the road and upon receiving no reaction from me speeds away. What do you think triggered her?
byu/Green-Vehicle8199 inIdiotsInCars
The incident happened in San Ramon along Bollinger Canyon Rd. and near the intersection with Canyon Lakes Dr (Exact location on Google Maps linked here.)
As /u/Green-Vehicle8199’s dashcam video shows, he’s driving along Bollinger Canyon Rd.
About 20 seconds into the video, the antagonist appears in a silver Toyota Avalon in the left-most lane.
For the next 20 seconds, OP continues to drive in the right-most lane, seemingly keeping pace with another vehicle in the middle lane.
The driver in the silver Avalon then changes two lanes and gets into OP’s lane.
Before coming to a stop, the driver in the Avalon brake checks OP.
The Avalon driver can be seen throwing two middle fingers out her window while shouting profanities.
Despite their light turning green, the Avalon driver blocks the intersection and throws in another brake check before speeding away.
/u/Green-Vehicle8199 laid out several facts to clear any misconceptions surrounding his footage.
- “I joined the road hardly a minute ago.”
- “I was going close to or above the speed limit.”
- “Didn’t notice the car before 16-17 seconds into the video.”
- “(I have) no bumper stickers on my car.”
- “I am driving a Subaru SUV.”
- “(I) cut out the audio in the earlier part where we were discussing my kids soccer match, (and I) kept the audio later to show we didn’t respond back to her and just let her vent.”
“What do you think triggered her,?” OP asks in his title.
Several Redditors threw in their .02
The most popular theory is that OP was hogging the left lane, preventing the driver in the Avalon from changing lanes.
These three Redditors theorized that in different ways, all upvoted towards the top of the thread.
“Random question: You were going at a similar speed as the car to your right, then when Karen comes into view passing you both, you increased your speed significantly. You mentioned you were going the limit. Did the limit jump up at that point?”
“I ask because, to her, it could appear you were blocking her on purpose (assuming there was another vehicle in the far right lane that she had to wait for an opportunity to pass. Or because it was only two lanes up until the starting point of this video,” /u/AThrowawayProbrably commented.
“Maybe she felt you and the SUV were blocking the left lanes of traffic? Not saying that’s an excuse for being a jackass and trying to cause a wreck, just offering a theory for why,” /u/JohnWayne1 added.
“I would guess she thought you matched her speed to prevent her from getting in front of you. It’s hard to tell in the video but it seems like she sped up so then you did and then she slowed down and so did you. I don’t know if that is even what happened but it’s a possibility,” /u/JarHeadaTheArt also added.
Contrary to what you might think, left-lane laws apply to highway driving and not city streets.
So, while what OP might’ve done, inadvertently or not, there’s nothing against the California Vehicle Code that prevents him from doing that.
In the end, he reacts correctly and does not further antagonize the road rager.
Not replying to OP directly but it’s a good idea not to pester other drivers and troll them by blocking/boxing them in, even though you’re technically not breaking the law.
The news is full of road ragers who went too far.
I don’t have to spell out how far they went.
If you’re the one getting trolled, easing off the gas and removing yourself from the situation is best, too.
